This time with loads of photos!

[More:]

It was freezing (well, about half a degree above) when I set off this morning on my weekly 'A vélo, mesdames' lesson.

As usual, we warmed up in the park,

then our teacher, Carmen, briefed us before we hit the city streets.

Off we went, with Carmen calling 'Don't let the juggernauts intimidate you, stick together, eye-contact, look up!'

and pausing every now and again to check that we were all okay.

Down we went to the Grand' Place

which we spun round a couple of times,

then on uphill to our regular break at Exki, where we lined up our bikes,

locked them,

leaving them in a neat row

as we went in to get warm and recoup our energy with coffee and tart.

Fortunately no-one else had a camera, so my fall, a dramatic back-flop onto the cobbled pavement just as I was remounting (don't ask me how that's possible) went unrecorded - well, pretty well recorded in my lower back, but not on camera.

We puffed uphill,

got more practice shoving the bikes up the bike rails,

back through the park to pick up a couple of people who had preferred not to venture out,

and on to the bike centre.

Loads of fun, excellent exercise and confidence building, a look into other cultures - all in all good value at five euro for two hours!